Gears of War 3: Horde 2.0 Boss List & Strategies

When playing Horde mode in Gears of War 3 (aka Horde 2.0), you’ll have a boss wave every ten waves. The boss wave is random, and may even change if you die and try the wave again.

Here is the list of bosses you may encounter, and some tips to help you kill them.

Berserker
The Berserker seems tough at first, because it has a tough hide that seems impervious to bullets. The trick to downing a Berserker is to catch it on fire to weaken it, then pound it with your guns. Every map should have a Scorcher available, so make sure you know where it spawns, and always make sure to keep $500 extra on boss rounds so you can purchase it. Don’t confuse the Berserker with the Lambent Berserker, because that’s a whole other beast that’s not nearly as easy.

Brumak
The Brumak is the giant hulking beast with miniguns for hands, and rocket launchers strapped to its back. It is large and powerful, but not too difficult to kill with enough firepower. Aim for the guns on its arms, and the canister on his back if you can flank it, otherwise just keep firing everything you’ve got until it’s dead.

Gunker
Gunkers are the lambent bosses that shoot out imulsion balls, and have large tentacles that can put you on the ground in one swipe if you’re in melee range. Try to stay behind large cover when Gunkers come out, because their range attacks are very strong. They don’t take a whole lot of firepower to kill however.

Lambent Berserker
The Lambent Berserker has a lot of the same traits as the normal Berserker, but they’re much tougher. You’ll be able to tell the Lambent version apart because it has tentacles coming out of it, and it does not catch fire like a regular Berserker does. These are probably the hardest boss in the game, simply because they only have one weak spot.. the yellow spot in their chest that only opens up right before they charge.

Taking down a Lambent Berserker is pretty much a team effort. One person needs to shoot at them to attract their attention, while the rest of the team waits for the cavity to open up right before they charge. When it opens, blast it like crazy, and whoever is getting charged needs to dodge roll out of the way to avoid being knocked down. This can be a long process, but they’re not the fastest creatures, and they are mostly blind and rely on sound to find their enemies. Avoid using Turrets and Silverbacks, as they can destroy these in one swipe, and they don’t really do much damage during the fight.

Reaver
Reavers are the large creatures that walk on long tentacles, and constantly shoot rockets at you that do quite a bit of damage. They take quite bit of firepower to kill, and are vulnerable to any weapon you can throw at them. There will always be multiple to fight on a boss wave, so keep that in mind. It’s usually best to fight them at range, and have large cover in front of you if possible, to slow them down from getting close to you.

Savage Corpser
These are the spider looking creatures that can dig into the ground. It’s best to keep range on them, as they only have close range attacks. Several will come out at a time, so make sure you don’t get backed into a corner. They will often cover their faces with their legs as a shield, at which point you can’t damage them from the front, so try to flank them if possible. They will dig into the ground several times, so dodge roll around when they do, because they are able to attack you from under the ground.